CONGRESS

Editorial cartoon showing an IRS official in a dark suit holding a briefcase labeled "IRS" watching a commercial airplane taking off, depicting the tension between tax authorities and budget airlines seeking a tax holiday during the jet fuel crisis

Budget airlines want a tax holiday—but where’s yours?

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The Association of Value Airlines, representing Spirit, Frontier, and Allegiant, is asking Congress to suspend the 7.5 percent federal excise tax on domestic tickets and the $5.30 per-segment fee, citing the jet fuel crisis following the Iran war. On a typical $369 roundtrip fare, passengers already pay roughly $47 in mandatory taxes and fees, inflating ticket prices by about 13 percent. Without a requirement to pass savings to consumers, any tax holiday would function as a corporate subsidy rather than traveler relief.

United Airlines promises.

How to make United Airlines keep its promises

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You could almost hear a collective groan from the traveling public last week when United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz promised a congressional hearing that his airline would “do better” in the wake of the David Dao dragging incident.

Better than what, exactly?

Has the TSA become its own worst enemy?

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You don’t have to read the 59-page congressional report on the Transportation Security Administration’s shortcomings, released on the 11th anniversary of 9/11, to conclude the agency has “become its own worst enemy.”